The present invention relates to preparation of a supported turf or carpet-like structure particularly wherein the supporting means is plasticized sulfur.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,515,847 discloses a supported carpet-like surface. The turf or carpet-like surface of U.S. Pat. No. 2,515,847 is suitable for use as a putting green for golf and includes a top layer of rug material having a nap, and wherein the rug material is supported on center layers of sponge rubber-like material. The supported rug material is placed upon the earth.
It is also, of course, known to place carpet-like material on concrete and wooden surfaces.
Artificial turf materials have been placed on football fields and the like. Usually the artificial turf includes fibers contained in or woven into a backing and with a pad attached to the backing. The thus composed artificial turf material is usually directly placed on the earth or other surface as a unitary product. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,828 discloses an artificial turf in FIG. 2 including fibers in a backing and with the turf also being attached to a pad. In FIG. 5 of U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,828 the turf is shown with the backing but without the pad.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,422,615 also discloses a synthetic turf-like material which is referred to as a "pile fabric." Fibers which are indicated as being suitable for making the yarns used to make the pile fabric of U.S. Pat. No. 3,422,615 are said to include olefins, particularly polypropylene, and also other materials such as nylon, vinyl-vinylidene chloride, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polyester, polyacrylonitrile, cellulose acetate, cellulose triacetate, rayon and glass in filamentary form.
Plasticized sulfur has been disclosed in various references, for example by J. I. Jin in "Chemistry of Plasticized Sulfur," Petroleum Division, A.C.S. Symposium, Vol. 19, No. 2, March 1974, pp. 234-241 and by C. Kinney Hancock in "Plasticized Sulfur Compositions for Traffic Marking," Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, Vol. 46, No. 11, November 1954, pp. 2431-2435. Exemplary patents disclosing plasticized sulfur include U.S. Pat. No. 3,316,115 "Marking Composition"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,434,852 "Plasticized Sulfur Compositions"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,941 "Sprayable Sulfur Road Marking Compositions"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,459,717 "Sulfur Based Plastic Composition"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,560,451 "Plastic and Nonflammable Sulfur Composition"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,453,125 "Plasticized Sulfur Compositions"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,674,525 "Plasticized Sulfur Compositions"; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,166 "Plasticized Sulfur Compositions". Also Ser. No. 286,627, which application has been offered for license by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, in the Official Gazette, Apr. 24, 1973, Vol. 909, p. 1179 discloses plasticized sulfur compositions.